Santenay in Bourgogne-France-Comté, France

 

We’re definitely in wine country…beautiful Burgundy

Cruising along the Canal du Centre

We always enjoy stopping at the village of Santenay as we cruise along the Canal du Centre.  There isn’t much written about Santenay.  It’s small and produces lovely wines.  

We cross this bridge to walk into town. It’s always decorated with beautiful flowers. 

Our visit to Santenay isn’t complete until we walk up to the Chateau de Santenay.  Because of Covid we needed an appointment for wine tasting.  Another time we can plan in advance and visit their tasting room  

The entrance to the Chateau de Santenay has two Plane trees planted in 1599.  

The Chateau de Santenay has a typical Bergundian tile roof. 

Walking around Santenay and being unable to do any tasting made me thirsty (and hungry).  Back to Rabelo we enjoyed the best of both worlds. 

Church in Santenay

Fountain in the town center

Entrance to a Vinyard 

Tom decided we could go on a hike and found what he thought would work for us.  

The views around Santenay are lovely.

Walking above the village of Santenay

We covered all types of terrain from roads through villages, along vineyards, to dirt and rocky roads,

It felt like we even had to do some bushwhacking. 

Tom navigated using my iPad. 

The hike was worth it for the scenery.  I’m not sure our feet are ever going to forgive us. 

We hiked all the way up the mountain to Three Crosses. 

Some other views as we took a walk along the canal. 

Patriotic bales of hay 

The scene under a bridge

Traveling on the Saone River, Canal du Centre, Visiting Seurre, and Chagny

 

It’s wonderful being back on Rabelo.  It’s taking me a while to get back into my old routine.  Tom feels like he’s lost a little of his touch navigating his big baby into the locks  I personally think he’s doing well.  Captain Philippe is thrilled to be moving Rabelo again and has had no difficulties remembering how to handle the lines and keep us going.  

Tom and Philippe are happy to be cruising together again on Rabelo.  They make a great team. 

Our first stop was Seurre.  It’s where the Saone River meets the bypass canal.  It’s a bustling little town with beautiful flowers making it a cheerful place to walk around.  

Flowers have been planted all around the town of Seurre adding color for the summer.

Rabelo is tied up on the city steps of Seurre.

14th century church St.Martin

Rabelo tied up near the factory at the marina in Chagny

We like stopping in Chagny.  Unfortunately it’s one of our least favorite marinas because we are next to a noisy factory.  The redeeming quality is the food, or more importantly the restaurants.  The town is located only 20 minutes south of Beaune which is the heart of Burgundy for tourism.  Chagny is the home of Maison Lameloise, a 3 star Michelin restaurant.  They have a sister restaurant Pierre & Jean.  Their service is excellent, the food delicious, and the price affordable.  They have a Michelin 1 star.  What more could we ask for!  Because of Covid we will only dine outside when we go to restaurants.  While inside looked busy, there were three couples who chose to eat outside.  Interestingly we were all Americans.  This meal was enhanced by a wine from Rully.

Noix de veau en fines lamelles.

Escargot de Bourgogne 

Dorad à la plancha

We decided to try a new restaurant Cepages et Saveure in Chagny.  We will definitely be returning.  Their menu was unique, well plated, interesting and flavorful.  There was only one server and she took good care of us.  We were able to dine outside in a little patio area.  Dinner was enhanced by a bottle of Santenay premie Cru.  

Courgette gazpacho with black curry and coconut milk, chorizo, and roasted seeds

Caprice salad/corn bread/tomatoes tartare/basil jelly/mozzarella di buffala.

Asian beef tatami, bok choy cabbage, broad bean cream, small pea with sesame oil.

Cruising the Canal du Centre looking back at Tom steering  Rabelo in the pilot house.

On one of our walks we found a dumpster with all these tomatoes someone had pulled out of their garden. I seriously contemplated finding a way to climb in and salvage them. 

 

Someone’s discarded tomatoes. 

People show great creativity and imagination when adapting a barge for their own personal use.

A unique barge with a truck for their pilot house/living quarters.

We went through a 36 foot deep lock.

A lovely lock house that always has beautiful flowers around it.

We love seeing the fields of sunflowers. They’ve reached the end of their season. 

You can see how tall the sunflowers grow.

A toast to our new grandson🥰

We are excited to announce the birth of our new grandson💕. 

Covid-19 and Our Return to France

 

Some rosé champagne at the airport helping to get into the mood for our return to France 

We left our converted 1929 barge Rabelo in Saint-Jean-De-Losne, France in the fall of 2019. We purchased her in 2011 and have been cruising the canals of Holland, Belgium and France at least 6 months a year ever since. That is until Covid-19 struck and the world came to a halt. We’ve been more fortunate than many in that our family so far has remained healthy.  All of us have been extremely cautious and (age permitting) were vaccinated as soon as possible.  Anxiously waiting for France to open up to Americans in order to return to our second home, when we were ready to depart, with flights booked and suitcases packed, France went to level 4.  The US recommended against travel to France.  After a brief discussion (Tom was determined to return to Rabelo) it was agreed we might actually be safer in France considering all the safety measures being taken there.  Many phone calls and texts later no one had dissuaded us from our plan.  We would stay out of the larger cities (I had to forgo my Paris fix this year).  Our time would be spent cruising the more rural areas of France.  And so our departure date finally arrived.

Those who have traveled with me know all about my famous packing skills.  We had four suitcases and 2 carry-on.  One suitcase each for clothes and the balance for Rabelo.

We got up at 3:45 am, were loaded and driving away from our house at 4:30 am.  With no traffic it was 45 minutes to the airport.  We hadn’t been able to download boarding passes and were concerned about delays.   It was 30 minutes from arrival at the airport through check in and security.  An amazing feat.  We were able to use the Delta lounge, relax and enjoy a light breakfast.  Many people in the lounge were maskless, eating, drinking, and talking on their phones.  We were tucked in a corner away from most of our fellow travelers.  Boarding at Delta was easy and each passenger was handed a sealed hand sanitizing wipe so we could clean our personal space.  We took off on time for our first flight which was taking us to Houston,Texas. We were given a choice of two snack boxes.  I was pleased to see gluten free items in each box.  We weren’t going hungry on this flight.  The second leg of our flight was Texas to Paris (Charles de Galle airport).  

Our second flight was on Air France.  There was a friendly couple seated in front of us.  The husband would not wear the mask over his nose  I spoke to a flight attendant who nicely asked him to wear his mask properly.  He said his glasses fogged.  I was so nervous I spoke again to a flight attendant.  It turned out the larger business class cabin was over half empty and we were able to change seats.  With no one near us I could relax and the rest of the flight went smoothly.   

Entering France took a long time.  Numerous flights must have landed concurrently.  We stood in line for an hour.  Fortunately the lines moved, everyone was respectful and wore their masks.  

France is working hard to keep their people safe from Covid.  Masks are worn indoors.  Everyone in the markets are properly masked and keep a respectful distance from other shoppers,  In order to eat at a restaurant all customers are required to show proof of vaccination or a PCR test.  Even eating outside  proof of being Covid free must be shown.  It’s comforting to know that the people dining around us either have been vaccinated or have shown a negative Covid test.  When we finally went to a boulangerie it was impressive how respectful people were in giving other customers their space.  

Our captain Philippe was there to greet us at the airport.  It was great to see him and everyone was happy.    It was a four hour drive to Saint-Jean-de-Losne and our boat,    As always Philippe has the boat looking clean and beautiful.  He had placed flowers in our dining room and a lovely plant on our table outside.   

      

We love the food in France.  Going to the boulangerie is an important part of our routine.  Being Celiac (which means no more treats for me), Tom and Philippe still need to eat.  I’m afraid I will be cheating a little bit.  I don’t know how long the cheating will last or how big a price I’ll pay for those little bites.  

A few pastries to tempt us. 

 

Our first boulangerie in Seurre since our return to France

It’s good to be on the move again.  This is Tom’s view from the pilot house.  

A nice sunset.

I took a break from the kitchen to enjoy the sights as we cruise the River Saone.  

We tied up in Seurre for one night and went for a nice walk.

Food is an important part of our life in France. One of Tom’s favorite dinners we call grazing.  Salad, a selection of cheeses, fruit,  a fine bottle of champagne, and Socca in place of a baguette.  Life is good!

Due to technical difficulties I apologize for my blog format. I can’t figure out how to get to my blog site back onto my computer.  Thus I’m working in my iPad which isn’t nearly as easy.  

I look forward to hearing from you.  

Fall and Harvest Time in Burgundy, France

Fisherman at Sunset

We went out for a delicious dinner at the Restaurant William Frachot at the Chapeau Rouge hotel in Dijon.

We had a relaxing evening 

For those of you wondering how we manage to "live" on a boat for so many months of the year, I'm providing just two pictures so you can see we aren't suffering.

Dining area looking into the living room

Living room looking towards the dining area and into the kitchen.

 What happens when friends come to visit us in Burgundy who happen to be in the wine business back in the States?  We go wine tasting!  Then, between wine tastings, we drink more wine and eat great food.

Stan and Gail with a background showing the Cote D'Or.  It's Fall the grapes have been picked, the leaves are turning golden, and the vines are preparing to sleep for the winter.

Wine tasting st Domaine Dubreuil-Fontaine Pernand-Vergelesses

More wine tasting

Back at the boat making sure we liked the wine we had tried

Then on to Olivier Leflaive for a lovely lunch with a tasting of 9 different wines.

Rabelo at Lechatelet where we've been hanging out

 Lechatelet is a farming community and it's harvest time.  In France corn is fed to pigs, not people.

The corn stalks have dried out and are ready for harvest.

This is part of our walk with the river on one side and the fields on the other.

The harvester comes through the fields of corn like a lawn mower.  It cuts the stalks, removes the leaves, shucks the corn, and throws the waste out the back.  It's an amazing process.

This is what the field looks like after the harvest. 

Very little corn is lost.  After the harvest locals come with burlap sacks searching for any corn missed by the machine.

The stalks are then cut down to the dirt

The next step is to deeply till the soil.

The soil is turned so deeply that there is little evidence that a field of corn was growing here

The soil is turned again,  smoothed and prepared for the next harvest 

It looks like a winter grass is planted

Winter crop

It's such fun when friends "stop by" for a quick visit.  

Don and Andrea came by for lunch on their way from Germany to Portugal.

Our walk around Lechatelet where you can see it is a farming community.

We had quite a bit of rain and the river Saone was flowing.

We had this curious cow come by to check us out.

More Charolais cows.  A couple of youngsters in front.

I always enjoy hearing from you.  Feel free to drop me a line.

Until the next time...
Lisa